My father was a keen photographer. He was very fond of having an annual photo taken of the family. He did once say that an annual photograph of the family was very meaningful and he likened it to a historical document without words.
He would then make many copies of the photo to be given to my grandfather and his brothers and sisters. This would be like his "annual report" to his siblings
This is a photo taken in 1958, the year my 4th sister, Sig was born. My mother was wearing a very pretty maternity blouse and skirt set.
We older two girls had dresses made by our Grandmother Siew, and the material was very good cotton bought in Ngiu Kee. I remember very well that my mother and aunts loved buying materials from the shop at High Street. My mother and the towkay neo, Mrs. Wong Yuk Siew were great friends, both being very gentle and soft spoken.
My brother had a buttoned up suit which was off the peg, very popular at that time. My father could have bought it from Kuching or even Singapore.
And my sister Yin had a smocking dress made by Aunt Pick.
Our hair was permed by Aunt Pearl who had a hair dressing salon in High Street.
It was during one of the hair dressing sessions that I had a very bad burn at the top of my head. The heat from the rollers and the boiling hot hair perming solution left a bad scar, which is as big as a ten cent coin. It is a permanent scar!!
Mum always said, "Without pain there is no beauty..." A Foochow saying. The next painful journey to beauty was my ear piercing experience.
That year my father left his necktie wearing, cool bank office to work with my grandfather in the Bukit Aup Kiong Ann Brickyard.
A photo does bring back a lot of memories.
For remembrance.
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